Sign device



Aug. 21, 1945.

| A. TARBBQX SIGN DEVICE Filed April 16, 1941 INVENTOR ATTORNE 4' Patented Aug. 21, 1945 UNITED 1 STATES PATENT {OFFICE I w 2,383,024: p *SIGNDEVICE e LeonA. Tarbogcmfaa, N. J. f AppIication A priI 1s, 1941, Serial No. 388,719

moi-aims. (01.40440) This invention relates'to improvements'infin terchangeable letter signs and more particularly to improved methods and apparatus for making temporary titles as for photography, etc.

It has been found desirable byphotographers, both professional and amateur, advertisers, and others, to prepare signs or titles which could be readily assembled, fromnindividual letters, .by temporarily attaching the letters in proper, position on a suitablemat or background. fVarious suggestions for attaching the letters have been made, including making the letters from Wood blocks and nailing them to a background or gluing them in place, but inmost cases the mat is destroyed or rendered useless after several titles have beenmade. Special mats, such as are required with magnetic letters, have also been tried, but they are expensive and have only a limited field of service. Furthermore, if different colored letters or characters are desired,

it is necessary to have avery large assortment for the desired purposes. q r

The principal object of my invention is to provide a font of characters, whichareof light weight and inexpensive in construction, which are particularly satisfactory fortitling or sign tiallyalong theli'ne 3- 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is, a perspective view and e Fig. 515 a yerticalfcrosssection through a still further modified form of iletter; e

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a still further modified form of letter, v

In accordance with the preferred form of embodimentof my invention, 1 provide a font of characters,. such as letters; numerals, etc., which are adapted to be adhesively attached by means of thermoplastic materialsltoj a wide variety of mats, plates or otherforms of background so that a letter, phrase, title, or "other combination can be prepared andtemporarily held in position. While of generalapplication, my inven- Fig. 3 is a vertical cross sectionltaken substantion is particularly applicable to the making of making, and which are provided with thermoplastic material of comparatively low-melting point so that they will readily adhere to any form of mat or backing plate by merely Warming the thermoplastic materialand sothat they can be readily removed after having served purpose. I

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved method of preparing titles as for photography, in which the characters maybe suitably aligned and attached to any mat or backing member including clear glass sothat pictures may be taken with the desired characters silhouetted thereon." A still further object of my invention is to provide a construction of letter or character for temporary sign work, inwhich the color of the letter may be readily and quicklychanged without destroying the character itself.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following disclosure their of preferred forms of embodiment thereof taken in connection with the attached drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a perspectiveview, partly insection, of the rear of one form of letter; i

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, partly in section, of the rear of a modified form of letter;

titles in connection] with the so-called home movies. For such purposes, I prefer to use a raised or three-dimensional form of letter such as the block type shown at ID in Fig. 1. It will be apparent that the shape of the letter or character is not restricted, and I may use any shape or size which may be desired, but the field of use usually limits the; letters to small ones, as of six inches or less in major length. e,

The principal feature of my invention is the natureof the adhesive bywhich the letter may beheld inf the desired: position. This is prefing point in the range of l10*-170 F., which, at normal atmospheric temperature, will be solid and will not deteriorate. At normal temperatures, it should not be adhesive or even sticky or tacky. It is'preferably" brittle at normal atmospheric temperatures, although readily changed to become adhesive upon warming.

As a subordinatefeature of my construction, I prefer to use some form of principal reinforcement to aid in fixing the shape of the letter and to prevent it from breaking on handling. With most thermoplastic materials that I have used, the reinforcement counteracts the normal brittleness, thus rendering the characters useful over alonger period. The reinforcement may be merely an intermediate cloth or paper or Wire layer, film or screen, or the body portion of the letter may be of a solid material such as Wood, glass or metal or other suitable material and the thermoplastic material secured thereto on either or both faces.

As one preferred form of embodiment, I have shown in Fig. 1, .a three-dimension letter 10, which may be of a rigid or flexible material and is conveniently made of wood, such as plywood.

If such leter is to be secured face up on a suitable mat, the rear face may be provided with a channel, generally indicated at l2, which may conform to the general outline of the letter. Within the channel l2, fluid thermoplastic material I4 is placed and, when solid, it will firmly adhere to the letter body. If desired, the thermoplastic material may be reinforced as by using a cloth, string, or wick, which is impregnated therewith, The rear surface of the letter thus has an exposed portion of the thermoplastic material, which, when slightly heated, becomes sufficiently adhesive to permit immediate attachment of the letter to any desired surface. The channel also serves as a reservoir for the thermoplastic material, making 'it possible to reuse the letter a large number of times.

After use, the letter may be readily removed from the mat by merely lifting the letter from the surface. A brittle product is a highly desir-- able material in this respect, for it frees itself in a complete and substantially clean manner from practically all usual backing materials or mats and ordinarily they are left clean and unmarred or may be readily cleaned by wiping off any residual material.

A modified form of letter construction is shown in Figs. 2 and 3, in which the character is similarly provided with a suitable hollowed-out channel 22, into'which a normally solid thermoplastic material 24 is placed. In this case, the letter may be conveniently provided with a backing portion or coating 26 of cloth impregnated with the thermoplastic material, and in such case the thermoplastic material 24 in the channel serves as a suitable binder tov the letter and the made. The mat or background is indicated at 36. Transverse openings 31 may be found desirable to increase the bond.

A solid thermoplastic letter is shown in Fig. 6. This is not as strong as the wooden or metallic foundation letters in the foregoing forms but is cheapest and, if carefully handled, is readily used. It may also be reinforced with a central cloth or wire mesh 42 of a sufficient fineness to assure flexibility. Other internal reinforcements such as fibrous sheets, like paper, or cellulose derivatives,

which are flexible, may be used.

backing portion 26. This backing portion may outermost face. In a similar manner, the change of color can be readily accomplished by merely lifting off one faceif the under face is of the desired color.

Color of letters is not only important in ordinary advertising but is especially important in the so-called home movie titling. The use of dif- I ferent faces materially reduces the number of letters required and, being made of a suitable thermoplastic material, they can be easily molded in the different colors and the face of the desired color can be readily aflixed to the letter body. It is also possible, by using a colored thermoplastic material of slightly lower melting point, to dip the letters in the coloring material. When a changed color is required, they may be either re-dipped or the color may be strip ed off as the letter is stripped from the mat.

A still further modified form of construction is shown in Figs. 4 and 5, in which the letter 30 is provided with channels 3| and 32 on both sides. In this latter form of construction, the channels are both provided with suitable thermoplastic material indicated at 33 and 34 with the thermoplastic material 33 substantially integral, with the face 35. this manner a more secure bond is The letters have the advantage that they may be applied to any customary backing material or mat and, with an all-plastic letter, such as shown in Fig. 6,"the surface need not even be flat. When on glass, it is possible to arrange pictures with the letters silhouetted thereon as the light can pass around or through the letter to a picture or scene in the background without obliterating the scene. In each case, the letter is freely removed and the mat is not disfigured.

The words front or face and back of the letter are relative in that ordinarily the exposed portion of a letter is the face or front and the adherent surface is the rear or bottom and has the thermoplastic material. However, in making signs which are visible through glass, as in the inside of a store window, the adherent surface may also be a colored face and the rear or inside exposed portion may also be colored.

As examples of suitable thermoplastic materials, I include not only the natural waxes of animal, vegetable or mineral origin such as paraffin, beeswax, stearic acid and ceresin, but also the synthetic materials or combinations of these materials or with other products. I also believe that certain of the synthetic resins including the vinylite resins and other polymerized compounds can be used if they have substantially the above characteristics. In this respect, brittle is used to distinguish the characteristic that the characters can be readily and freely broken away from a mat or background material as distinguished from the action of glue and other viscous and tacky substances.

While I have shown and described a preferred form of embodiment of my invention, I am aware that modifications may be made thereto, and I, therefore; desire a broad interpretation of my invention within the scope and spirit of the description herein and of the claims appended hereinafter.

Iclaim:

1. A three-dimensional detachable character for a sign or title, having a raised body portion of the predetermined shape and a thermoplastic surface on the back of and integral with said letter whereby on partial heating of the surface the letter can be rendered adherent to a surface, said material permitting substantially clean release of the character in the cold condition.

2. A three-dimensional character adapted to be detachably secured to a surface, said character having a reinforcing body portion of substantially the desired configuration and having a part of its attaching surface provided with a thermoplastic material which is substantially brittle when cold and adhesive when warmed, said material permitting substantially clean release of the character in cold condition.

3. A three-dimensional character adapted to be detachably secured to a surface, said character having a reinforcing body portion of substantially the desired configuration and having a part of its attaching surface providedwith a thermoplastic material ,which is substantially brittle when cold and adhesive when warmed,

said thermoplastic material having a melting point in the range of 110 F. to 170 F.

4. A three-dimensional character adapted to be detachably secured to a surface, said character having a rigid reinforced body portion of substantially the desired configuration and having a part of its attaching surface provided with a thermoplastic material which is substantially brittle when cold and. adhesive when warmed, said material permitting substantially clean release of the character in cold condition.

5. A three-dimensional character adapted to be detachably secured to a surface, said character having a reinforced 'body portion of substantially the desired configuration and having a part of its attaching surface provided with a thermoplastic material which is substantially brittle and can be cleanly broken awayfrom an attaching surface when cold and which is adhesive when warmed, said body portion having a recess in which an excess of the thermoplastic material is placed as a reservoir to permit repeated attachment and detachment of the character. a

6. A detachable letter for a sign or title, having a body portion of the predetermined character and shape, a thermoplastic portion on the back of said letter whereby on partial heating it can be rendered temporarily adherent to a surface, a detachable face, and a thermoplastic binder between the face and the body portion.

'7. A detachablel etter for a. sign or title, having a body portion of the predetermined character and shape, a thermoplastic portion on the back of said letter whereby on partial heating it can be rendered adherent to a surface, a detachable face, i

and a thermoplastic binder between the face and the body portion, the detachable face being of a color different from the body portion and readily stripped therefrom.

8. A three-dimensional character adapted to be detachably secured to a surface, said character having a reinforcing body portion of substantially the desired configuration, an exposed face, thermoplastic material to detachably secure said face to the body portion, and thermoplastic materialon the surfaceof the body portion opposite the exposed face whereby said character may be attached to a mat or background member, the thermoplastic material beinga normally hard and brittle material which, upon heating, becomes adhesive and when cold can be readily broken away from the mat or background material.

I 9. A detachable character for a signor title, having a body portion of the predetermined shape, recesses in the opposite faces of said body portion, and a thermoplastic material in said recesses, part of said thermoplastic material being adapted for detachably securing the character to a mat or background material, and a face member secured to the other part of said,

thermoplastic material being a normally hard and brittle material which, upon heating, be-

comes adhesive and when cold can be readily broken away from the mat or background mateterial, the adherent sides of said body portion having a reservoir of the thermoplastic material.

' LEON A. TARBOX. 

